About Campolina Horses

Campolina horses originated in Brazil in 1870 when a farmerrnnamed Cassiano Campolina bred a Brazilian mare of Barb ancestry with a purernAndalusian stallion. Later he further refined his horses with Anglo-Norman,rnClydesdale, Holsteiner, American Saddle Horse, and Mangalarga Marchador horses.rn The result is the largest of the threerngaited Brazilian breeds. Their temperament is docile, but active and proud. Theyrnare used for pleasure and trail riding, dressage, and driving.

The Campolina is a gaited breed, with an ambling gait. Theirrngaits are a smooth, regular batida or a picada, the first characterized by arnlonger time of movement of the bipeds in diagonal and the second only inrnlateral, both with four-beat movements. The gait is called the true marcha orrnmarcha verdadeira. Campolina horses neither trot nor pace.

rnrn rnrnThe most revered Campolina horses are a silver-grey. Otherrnpopular colors are dun, bay, buckskin, and pinto, although they can be found inrnalmost any color. They weight between 1,200 and 1,300 pounds for stallions andrnbetween 770 and 990 pounds for mares. Their height varies from 15 to 16.2 hands.

Campolina horsesâ€™ head is proportional in size to the restrnof its body, having a flat forehead and well-separated lower jaw. Their profilernis straight to a subconvex line in the bridge of the nose; their eyes arernmedium to large in size; their nostrils are large and flexible; their neck isrnarched, muscular, proportional and well inserted into the shoulder. Theirrnwithers are well defined and long; their chest is deep, wide and not toornprominent; their ribs are long and arched; their back is medium in length; theirrnloin is short and well muscled; their croup large and long, smoothly inclined;rntheir tail set medium-high; mane and tail are silky in texture.

The breed standards were first defined in 1934 when thernherdbook was closed and the introduction of outside breeds was no longerrnaccepted. The Professional Consortium of Campolina Horse Breeders was formed inrn1938 to formally organize the breed. The organization was renamed the CampolinarnBreeder Association in 1951 which is when the breed standards were formallyrnadopted. The breed standards were updated in 1975 and 1993. rnrn

rnrnThere are currently around 85,000 registered Campolinarnhorses, with slightly over 7,300 registered breeders.